June 5, 2005
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something has been on my mind lately…the fear of the Lord. i have come to realize how this is missing in the Church today. while reading the Bible tonight..i decided to take a deeper look into fearing the Lord.
i read “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul and with all your strength.” ( dt 6:5) but further on i read in this passage…“fear the Lord your God, serve Him only..” (dt 6:13) how we overlook these simple truths! how many of us say that we love Him…but how many really obey Him, truly take up their cross and follow Him because He is all?
fearing the Lord is more than going around, always being “afraid” of Him…the fear of the Lord is so much more than “He is just my best friend, sure, i fear Him too…”..the fear of the Lord is more than “He gives grace, so on i sin..” we must not misuse the precious grace that He gives us…oh, we must understand it is the fear of the Lord that makes us in awe of Him that will bring us to utter repentence…that will bring our sins into the light, that we might flee from our selfish desires and ambitions.
what does it mean to fear the Lord? “to fear the Lord is: to hate evil; i hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” proverbs 8:13 oh, that we must hate what He hates (our sinful nature, evil) and love what He loves! the fear of the Lord is to finally come to the realization that He is sovereign…Holy..worthy of all! the fear of the Lord is coming to the fact that we truly are nothing…that He is all..humbling ourselves before Him in pure worship because we are lovesick for Him. “He has showed you, o man, what is good. and what does the Lord require of you? to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”micah 6:8
i see many asking for more of Him, more knowledge, more wisdom…“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” proverbs 1:7
much of Christianity is in such a state of “self” (self-seeking, self-evaluating…”what’s in it for me?”) it is sickening.
(“there is no fear of God before their eyes.” romans 3:18)
my heart aches for the Lord…and i find that there are many teachings in our modern Christianity that completely go against this fear of the Lord, they go against self-denial, humbleness …everything the Lord has called of us!! instead, there are teachings of finding your own calling, finding the desires of your own heart, and how to be fufilled. (it seems as if it is what we can get of of the Lord, to make our own selves happy, that we can rule our own lives) …and you wonder why so many are not recieving more of Him, more knowledge of Him!! where is the fear of our God and His soverignity? where is obedience? “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.“ is 33:6
there are over 200 references on fearing the Lord in the Bible (40 of those in the new testament..) ..this must be very important to Him! in the words of Jesus Himself: “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. but I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. yes, I tell you, fear Him“ luke 12:4,5
and John writing in revelation: “fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water” rev. 14:6,7
oh Lord, come and take out of me what you wish…Your word says that if i truly love you that i will obey You. bring me back to that place where i stand in complete awe of You and Your beauty..
“in order to the attaining of all useful knowledge this is most necessary, that we fear God; we are not qualified to profit by the instructions that are given us unless our minds be possessed with a holy reverence of God, and every thought within us be brought into obedience to Him…. as all our knowledge must take rise from the fear of God, so it must tend to it as its perfection and centre. those know enough who know how to fear God, who are careful in every thing to please Him and fearful of offending Him in any thing; this is the Alpha and Omega of knowledge.”
—matthew henry
“Christian, let God’s distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.”
—john bunyan
Comments (12)
Nicely put!!! That’s such an awesome reference to Him. Thanks for writing down your thoughts…God is truly in you!!!
John Bevere has an incredible book about that. It definitely opened my eyes a bit. I think many times, church and our walk just become a routine, and we disregard God in the process. Little do we know that we are sinning.
Yes, I was just coming to tell you about Bevere’s book ^, as well. It is one of the best I’ve read. Well worth the read. Good post. Peace.
May we not just talk about the fear of the lord as some mental capacity to be infatuated with, but may our father root this fear deep within our souls causing us to have complete intimacy with him. Coach A, great study! i just hope we all really hear with our ears!
dschniznick
This is so awesome
You’re right! Balance seems to be missing from the church. It’s either all “He’s my best friend” or “He’s my groom” (my lover) but what about King and judge and majestic ruler? He is all of these things and more! In my own life, ‘fear of the Lord’ has kept me from giving into my sinful nature many times. I’d like to say that I don’t sin because I love Him, but that isn’t always true. Sometimes I love myself more and want to do things my way. Then comes the gift of the ‘fear of the Lord’ and I know I must bend my knee to Him and give it up. Love you, M
Well said! Thank you.
Hmmm… someone already mentioned “balance”. That’s what I though of when I read your post. It’s good to have a balanced view of God, as much as possible. I think daily we’re learning about His nature. Sometimes, depending on where we’re at in life, certain parts of His nature stick out to us the most, because maybe we look to those parts to minister to us and get us through what ever difficulty we’re currently facing. Maybe if we just sinned, and feel convicted and ashamed, we look to His nature of grace. But then we don’t purposely sin so that His grace may abound. With grace comes… a respect for our Father, to not willfully sin again in the same way we just asked for forgiveness for. The grace He gives, and His blood that covers, should be motivation and hope for another chance to live a life that hungers and thirst after righteosness. The life that strives to be holy because He is holy. The children that seek to please their loving Father. The commited Christian that lives a life that’s faithful and loyal to their Best Friend. It’s inspiring and encouraging to see a young lady such as yourself seeking to please the Lord. Keep being commited in every area of your life and bear a good testimony.
Thank you for sharing your “revelations”. Your passion for the subject has inspired me to delve into the subject more. I especially love how you point out that there are over 200 references, thus He definitely meant for us to reflect on the subject. I guess I have something new to meditate on today. Thanks!
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Thanks,
Michael
awesome! i did a devotional the other night in my Study Bible which dealt with the difference between being afraid of God and fearing Him…it had a lot of references to the Israelites worshiping other gods and idols and such…i learned a lot from it, b/c it is easy to get these things confused and think they are the same…i think to fear Him is to revere Him as holy and Almighty and powerful and to realize that He is the I AM, that there is no other God before Him, and that we should give Him all the glory…that He could do anything He wanted to us, yet doesn’t…that He holds everything in His hands and has total control (except for us having some free will)…the Israelites did not do this…therefore, when God descended to Mt. Sianai (sp?) His people were afraid of Him b/c they did not worhip Him as they should have….they did not hold him as the One and Only God…therefore they did not fear Him…to fear Him is to have the mindset of “how dare i put anything else before Him…He is GOD!!” also, if we fear Him, we hate all the things He hates and love all the things He loves…to fear Him is to hate evil (like you said, in Proverbs 8:13)…but if we are afraid of Him, it is b/c we may feel guilty and think that He is some evil guy in the sky who is going to punish us for everything we do wrong…perhaps why the Israelites were scared! but we know that He is not like that…He is also loving and merciful and forgiving…we should know His character if we are to know the Lord for sure…the Israelites were afraid b/c they did not know Him also…anywho, thanks for this post! it was great =o) God bless you and take care <3
~ Sarie
Wow…thanks Arielle….I love reading your Posts….I never know what to say AFYER reading them….but they always give me somthing to Pray about or….even point out weaknesses in my life. So thanks….All I can say.
<3 Always,
Atoy